A Life That's Bound By The Chains Of Reality
by Naarastiikeri
Summary: But what if you were able to break theses chains? What if you could travel far away and become the person you always wanted to be? That is what happened to Selene when she meets a mysterious young woman and her friends. Could that turn out good?
1. Chapter 1

_The idea for this FF swirled my mind for several weeks and now I finally got to write it down. I haven't found something like this in the Last Story section so I decided to give it a try. Let me know what you think about the idea, I am pretty curious. So, yeah, have fun and everything.  
Title (and the quoted lyrics) is borrowed by the song "My Selene" by Sonata Arctica. Just check it out if you got interested how it sounds like._

* * *

**A Life That's Bound By The Chains Of Reality**

"In the break of new dawn, my hope is forlorn. We will never meet, only misery and me," I sang along with the music playing in my ears. "This is my final call, my evenfall. Drowning into time I become the night. By the light of new day, I'll fade away. Reality cuts deep, would you bleed with me, my Selene?"

At once I started to look around after I finished the last line and the next song started to play. Call it paranoid but I couldn't get rid of the feeling someone or something watched me. I prefer calling this "being careful". Why? Well, I couldn't stand it if someone listened to me when I was singing. Why's that again? Because they'd only laugh at me. Although it was pretty much of an impossible way for such a person to exist here. Mainly because there was no person at all. Living in such a dump as I did certainly had its bright sited. At least for me.

I walked down the path to our small house that laid a little off of my village – if you even can call it that way. All in all we got forty-seven inhabitants here. As long as nobody died by now, at least…

Gravel crunched beneath my feet, while the wind ruffled my hair like every other day before and afterwards of autumn. The only missing thing was rain. It may sound weird but I sincerely loved rainy days. I couldn't even tell why. Butter it didn't really matter anyway, did it? Other people already claimed me insane, partially because of that. They wouldn't even listen to me if I found a good explanation. So why bother? I got better things to do. For example finding my key for our house door… I searched for it in every pocket of my coat to notice it wasn't there. The only other possible place to where it might have gone, was _somewhere_ in my bag. And of course that somewhere had to be the last corner I searched for. My fingers were as cold as ice when I was finally able to enter the house.

"Hey, mom. You're home already?"

My mother was a very busy woman so it certainly was surprising to see her.

"Ah, Selene, my dear. How was school?" Before I could even answer she said, "I'm sorry but I don't have much time." She took a small glance at her watch and said something about leaving now. It was always the same – she'd ask me a question but didn't really listen to what I said. If she listened at all. Sighing I put off my shoes and hung up the coat. Complaining didn't do anything and eventually I got used to it. And besides that I didn't have any time to complain. There was plenty much of work waiting for me. Only the thought of it made me shiver. I grabbed an apple from the kitchen and proceeded to my room. For the next few hours I wouldn't leave my room – no matter if I wanted to or not. Again I had to curse myself to put this presentation into cold storage for that long. It was my last year in school and my marks in history weren't _that_ good…So my teacher got me the "offer" (it's not like I could have refused) to give a presentation about… What exactly about?

All I knew was it would be hell on earth. It wasn't just the thing that I had absolutely no idea what I had to talk about but also that I'd have to speak in front of my class. They'd only laugh at me, no matter if I was able to stammer anything or not. I suppressed these horrible pictures in my mind. First of all I had to concentrate on the preparations. Afterwards I could still worry about it.

I opened the book and despaired instantly. A text stretching over six pages and one scheme I didn't understand. My head hit the desk.

"I'm never going to make it," I whined.

But there was no use of it so I returned to the text and tried to read it at first, sentence per sentence. Shortly before I finished the first one, I already wondered how it started. How was everybody else able to understand this stuff?! I never understood, never will understand.

On top of that I suddenly became dog-tired. Nevertheless I tried to read the text once more. After about twenty minutes (that felt like hours…) I did a short break. All in all I understood up to that moment… seven sentences. I quietly turned on the music –my favourite song!- and laid my head on the book to relax for a few minutes.

Most people think it's boring to listen to one song again and again, I on the other hand could listen to this particular song the whole day and it still wouldn't annoy me. It certainly was special to me, not only because I liked it that much, but also because my name occurred in it. Strange coincidence, wasn't it? But I kind of liked it.

_But until we unite…_

I wondered who "we" were. Logically one person would be me, but that still left one person more to go. Maybe I already knew this person and I just wasn't aware of it, yet? Or it could have been a complete stranger with whom I was meant to be together? Or maybe I was schizophrenic and didn't know it!

I stopped thinking because from that point on my ideas would only get more insane. I yawned loudly.

"Maybe I should sleep for only five minutes and then return straight to work," I mumbled and closed my eyes. One instance later I was already adrift in my dreams.

* * *

"Wh-Where am I?" I wondered. I admit it was a foolish question since there was nobody around to answer me. I stood there all alone on some kind of a stone circle thing that was surrounded by a small lake or something like that. Carefully I took one step forward. The echo my shoes created resounded pretty scary in this huge cave. This whole place could only mean bad things. I mean, I didn't even knew how I got there! After calming down for a moment I recognized two bridge-like things made out of stone. They seemed fairly stable but before I could explore the terrain any further, there was a terrible scream. A warlike scream! I panicked and hid behind one of these stone walls. Then there were many steps that came straight towards me. And suddenly they all stopped abruptly. What was going on? I risked a small glance over my protective wall and saw how the positioned themselves all over the place. Damn it! I had to get out of here or it would only be a matter of time until they found me. I made a fast move backwards and noticed how I ran into something or rather someone. It was to late. There was that terrible scream again and I felt how something hit my head. Then I was enveloped by darkness.

* * *

Never before I could really understand why some people wailed that much about headaches. Now, for the first time in my life, I was able to sympathize with them. My head felt like it was going to explode. Unwittingly I led out a slight moan.

"Oh, you're finally awake," I heard a gentle voice right next to me.

Abruptly I sat up and starred with big eyes at the person. Many questions swirled my mind but I wasn't able to say anything. Instead my fingers clung to the blanket while my heartbeat reached it's maximum.

Naturally this didn't go by unnoticed by the unfamiliar woman. With the softest voice I've ever heard she spoke, "Don't worry. We're not going to harm you."

My mother always told me not to trust in a stranger, but seriously, what other choice did I have? I didn't knew this place and had no idea where it might have been. All I could tell was that laid in an apparently big city. At least according to the noises that came through the window. Only one more reason to find a person whom I could have trusted as fast as I could. Besides all the bad people who wanted to harm me somehow, I got the ability to get lost in such a big place easily.

On the first glance that woman seemed to be really kind, so she probably was the best choice. But still I couldn't get rid of the weird feeling in my stomach.

"Where am I?" I asked eventually. For one reason because I had no idea what else could have said and secondly because I truly was curious. "And what's more: How did I get here?"

"Two friends of mine found you in the Reptid's Cave. They said you were conscientiously laying on the ground where they fought these poor creatures only minutes before. Since you didn't look too well, they brought you here. This place belongs to them."

Slowly my memories of that damn cave returned. That was this but I still had no idea how I got there. Or where I was exactly…

" And what kind of place is this?"

"It's just a simple bar in the center of Lazulis City but the two of them always got a warm bed for a friend in need."

"Lazulis City?" By the disbelieving look on the woman's face I could guess this place was really special, meaning it probably was very big. Although I sometimes fell asleep during our Geography lessons I was pretty sure I never heard of it before. Well, this was awkward… "I-I'm sorry for asking. It's just that I don't remember much right now, so I guess I only forgot about it at the moment." That was the truth. At least partially.

"If that's the case, I suppose it's the best if we help you to remember anything," she said with a friendly smile on her face. "But before we do this you may want to meet the rest of our group. Syrenne and Lowell are waiting downstairs so I suggest we start with them?"

I swallowed. I have never been a very social person. And around strangers I've always been extraordinary shy, especially if there was no one around whom I could rely on. But on the other hand she seemed like on of these people. Hesitantly I nodded. If these two people were friends with this woman they could only be nice, couldn't they? I removed the blanket and got out of the bed but somehow I couldn't get rid of the feeling something was missing. When I looked down on myself I instantly knew. The red shred of dress I was wearing before was gone.

"I hope you don't mind it that we threw away your old clothes. It was nothing somebody could wear anymore…"

She was right. As far as I could remember it was torn up everywhere, covered with dirt and drenched in blood. But still…

"I would have preferred it to walk around in a torn up dress than walking through the town in underwear."

The dark blue haired woman chuckled. "Don't worry, you can have one of mine until we found you some decent clothes." She pointed at the table standing on the other side of the room. On its top there stood a bowl filled with water, a piece of olive-green fabric as well as a pair of new (or rather old) boots.

"I'll be waiting outside for you to get ready. By the way, what's your name if I may ask?"

"Selene."

"That's a nice name. I am Mirania, pleased to meet you," she smiled and stood up. Carefully she closed the door behind her. Once I was alone I walked over to the table and starred in the mirror that stood right next to it. I certainly was dirty. How did I even manage to do this? Everything was so weird and confusing. I immersed my head in the water. It was as cold as ice. But I couldn't let myself be seen in this state so I washed as fast as possible the dirt of my skin. This definitely was one of these "once in a lifetime-experience". Urgh, never again. I put on the clothes Mirania borrowed me, a simple yet beautiful olive-green dress. I looked in the mirror once again. The dress reached up to my knees and around my waist there was a thin leather belt with a golden buckle. Somehow it really fit with my cocoa brown hair and the hazelnut-like eyes. I couldn't help but like it. After taking one last glance I put on the boots and left the room.

"Shall we go?" Mirania asked. Silently I nodded and followed her downstairs.

The bar was empty except for two people that seemed to clean up the place. An orange haired woman was leaning over a table she was dusting off, while the man swiped the floor. Apparently he heard us coming and looked up.

"Ah, the sleeping beauty awoke," he smirked.

I felt how my face turned red. At once I faced the ground. No one could probably understand how much I hated compliments. I wasn't beautiful or talented or anything.

"Don't take him too serious or he might break your heart tomorrow."

"Syrenne, I am truly hurt by the way you think about me," he said but I didn't believe him quite.

"Shut up" I don't think anything about 'cause I know you too well."

Actually I wasn't sure what to think about them. On the first look they seemed so different to Mirania.

"Anyways, I'm Syrenne and that idiot over there goes by the name of Lowell. May I ask your name in return?"

I looked up and saw both of them smiling friendly at me. Somehow it made me feeling not that uncomfortable anymore and I relaxed a little. "My name is Selene," I answered and looked at all of them, one after another. For one second longer my eyes laid on Lowell who instantly blinked his eye. I felt how I started to smile. Maybe they weren't too bad at all.

The three of them sat on a table and I sat down as well.

"So, do you mind telling us what you did in this cave? This wasn't a place where little princesses as you should be," Lowell asked.

"Actually that is something I need to find out first to tell you…"

"Try to remember the last thing you did before you entered the cave," Mirania said.

I closed my eyes and tried to remember. Suddenly the image of my history book returned and I could recall it didn't make any sense. The others probably noticed how much my body cringed. "Did you find anything?"

"No," I said hesitantly. "At least nothing important. I'm sorry but I don't think I can do anything more at the moment."

"That's alright." Mirania said and laid a hand on mine. When I looked up I found a warm smile on her face. "Take all the time you need. And if you need any help, you only have to ask. We'll gladly assist you in any way possible."

"Thank you," I whispered while I gently squeezed her hand. Never before someone threatened me with such kindness. I truly was moved, although I barely knew them.

"Alright, change of subject," Lowell said pretty loud only a few moments later. "Did you know you were a mage?"

"Huh? How did you came up with that idea?" I was confused. Magic only occurs in the fantasy of people. It couldn't be real because it would contradict so many laws of nature. And besides that, why should I be a mage?

As answer Lowell hitched up the sleeves of his light grey coat. The skin on his arms seemed rather wrecked. It kind of reminded me of a singe only that his skin simply turned grey. Like branches of a river there were many more strands that covered his arm.

"Is it my fault? I'm so sorry," I moaned.

"Naw, you don't have to be. It's not like you did it on purpose, didn't you?" I guessed not since I couldn't even remember doing this. "And I believe Mirania can fix the rest somehow as well, so don't mind. Besides it was actually pretty fun to watch Syrenne getting hit by the first strike. You should have heard her whining," Lowell chuckled.

"Shut it!" Syrenne shouted and threw the wet rag over the table directly in Lowell's face.

"Yeah, I love you, too," he said without losing the smile on his lips when he removed the rag.

"So what does it mean?" I asked when I was sure their argument was over. For the moment.

"It means that if you decide to start to train to control your power, like Lowell or me, you might become a powerful mage, so you'd be a great help for all of us or however you see it fit to use your talent," Mirania explained shortly.

I still didn't understand how magic could work but I didn't dare to ask. That aside this sounded pretty interesting. "So you could teach me?" I asked Mirania.

"Well, I suppose I could but we've got another mage in our group who might be a little better qualified for that task."

"Lowell?" I wondered.

"No, not Lowell."

Inwardly I sighed in relieve. It's not like I didn't like him but I disliked womanizer, as I'd call him, in general. So better not being alone with him for too long.

"His name is Yurick. We already asked him if he'd teach you and he agreed."

I swallowed. Honestly spoken my favourable teacher would be Mirania but I didn't say anything. Maybe this Yurick guy was really sensitive and I'd hurt his feelings with that. That was the least I wanted to do since they were all so nice to me. And that meant that Yurick could only be a good person as well, so there was nothing to worry about.

"And where is he right now?"

"Uhm…" Mirania threw an asking look at Lowell.

"At the arena!" Syrenne shouted with a big smile on her face.

"Syrenne, you can't take Selene to the arena! She has never ever before casted a spell or anything," Mirania was visibly shocked.

"Aw, come on. Do you really think I'd do such a thing?" We all could feel the unspoken "Yes." In the air. "Selene isn't fighting, as well as Yurick isn't. He told me he'd wait in the stands for the girl to meet him. Don't know what he wants to do afterwards."

"But why the arena? It's full of people who want to see the spectacle. It surely is loud there." I saw how Lowell was nodding slowly. "I believe every place was better than the arena." My throat was dry as desert sand while my hand started to sweat unusually. Please, anything but this. Huge crowds of people always scared me in a way or another.

"Too late, he's already waiting for you. And I already told Zael to come. We'll meet him at the entrance."

There was no use of complaining any further. Everything was decided and actually I should have been grateful for the opportunity they gave me. "Alright…"

"Then let's go!" She jumped of her chair. Wow, she truly was keen on going there.

"Uhm… Before you go, can I speak to Selene first? It won't take long," Mirania asked.

"Fine, but do it fast. We are waiting outside." Syrenne wanted to leave while Lowell sat there and curiously looked to Mirania. "Lowell, I said we are waiting outside," she grumbled dangerously. As Lowell still wasn't moving she grabbed his ear and dragged him through the door. It was kind of fun to watch, especially seeing Lowell moaning. And then the drama was over.

"Aren't you coming, too?" I wondered.

"No, I've got something else to do."

"I see…"

"Don't worry, they will take good care of you, even if they don't seem like that." I nodded. "Anyways, I wanted to talk about something different. Earlier you remembered something that's not as unimportant as you claim it to be, is it? Would you mind telling me?"

I hesitated one moment. "Do you promise not to laugh at me?"

"But of course."

"Well, I remember how I sat in my room. I was doing some homework… But I have no idea how I got here. Or where I am exactly. You know, I never heard of Lazulis before. And at home everything was so different and… And I am totally confused," I whined.

"I see… This is indeed very confusing. I'll see what I can find out but for the moment don't worry about it. Just enjoy the time with the others."

"Thank you, Mirania." Suddenly I felt the urgent need to hug her and one moment later I really did.

"You're welcome," she said chuckling slightly.

I let her go. "I guess I better be off then. Lowell and Syrenne already waited enough."

"I hope your training's successful. See you later then."

"Bye!" I waved my hand when I turned to leave.

"Are you ready?" Lowell asked when I stepped outside. Actually I wasn't but that was nothing I could say, so I silently nodded.

"Then there's no time to lose, let's go!" Syrenne took my arm and tugged me through the streets of Lazulis. She wouldn't let go of her strong grip but somehow I was grateful for that although it probably would leave a bruise. On the bright side, however, I couldn't get lost and nobody could kidnap me by dragging me away which was probably pretty easy in the crowded streets.

After walking for some minutes we reached a huge, round building. We stopped in front of a big entrance. So that was the arena. A blond haired man with a friendly smile walked in our direction. Was that Yurick? Didn't they say he was waiting in the arena? Well, maybe he changed his mind. In the end it didn't bother me. Actually I liked it even better. I wouldn't have to go in the crowded arena and my teacher seemed to be a friendly as I already guessed. I felt how I started to smile, too.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. The girl took longer to wake up than we though," Lowell explained.

Ashamed I starred to the ground. Did he really have to say that? It was kind of awkward. Yurick, however, didn't seem to mind. He said that it was alright and that he didn't wait too long at all.

"Whatever," Syrenne said impatiently. "Selene, this is Zael. Zael, Selene," she introduced us briefly.

Zael?!

Riiight… They said we wanted to meet him in front of the arena. I could have hit my head on the wall. Well, it would have been too nice to train with him.

"Nice to meet you," _Zael_ said and stretched out his hand. I grabbed it and silently shook it. His grip was unusual tight. In fact it felt like he wanted to break my bones. Eventually he let go of my hand and nothing was broken.

"I believe it's time for a little fight, eh Zael?" I wondered why this woman was so impatient. After Zael nodded she fast pushed him through the door and shouted, "Lowell, come on!"

"Yes, my dear. I'll be right there," he answered and turned around to face me. "You should go too and search for Yurick. He'll be easy to identify. Just search for a guy your age with silver hair and an eye patch. See you later, beauty."

An eye patch? That didn't sound very nice. As I walked into the arena I pictured a muscular man, twice my size who has lost his fight in a fierce fight of live and dead. Frightening, wasn't it? I started to shiver as I walked through the musty corridors upstairs to where the stands were meant to be. I stepped outside and breathed in relieve. There were quite a few people but it definitely could have been worse.

Now then, time to search for Yurick. Silver hair and eye patch… I scanned the crowd and found a guy fitting the description not far away from me to my left. Once again I started walking and clumsy as I was I stepped on everybody's feet. After getting thrown felt thousands of bad names at my head I finally reached the person.

"Are you Yurick?" I asked politely.

"Yeah," he answered without looking up.

At least I found him. But I wasn't really happy. He seemed not nearly as nice as the others. Without saying anything I sat down next to him and starred in the center of the arena. There was nothing to see, yet everyone focused on it. Absolutely nothing! What was so great about it?

Suddenly the stage started moving and a strange building without a roof appeared. It took me some time until I realized this was the actual stage. I could even see Syrenne, Lowell and Zael! They stood in one of the four rooms. There was a strange noise – the start signal as the commentator called it. Afterwards I couldn't understand him anymore because the crowd started to shout out that loud.

Zael opened the first door and the group stepped in the second room. It was filled with some weird looking creatures. How did Mirania call them? Reptils? No… Reptids! Anyways it was three against a lot of them. (I didn't bother counting them.) A strange blue light surrounded Zael suddenly and the monsters all wanted to kill him. Zael, however, was able to block next to all of their attacks (the others he dodged) and cut through the enemies bodies with ease that blood only spilled. And still they didn't care about the two swords wielding woman that joined the happy hacking or the mage. Something was odd about last one. He concentrated on something and when I was looking closer I saw… that he was hovering over the ground?! Then there was pretty big block of ice which he threw at the crowd of reptids. Unexpectedly they survived. Only Zael started to do weird things as well. He seemed to concentrate too and then dashed trough the crowd like they didn't exist to stir up the blue circle Lowell's ice created. At once all the reptids slipped and fell to the ground. And they couldn't get up. When they tried to stand up they fell again. Zael and Syrenne used that chance to get rid of all the monsters. And even Lowell joined them hacking away enemies. Once all of them were gone the shouting of the crowd got even worse than before. Luckily they calmed down when the group entered the next room.

"You had enough?" somebody asked me. I looked up and saw Yurick. I didn't even notice he stood up. Apparently he wanted to leave. I actually didn't mind. For the moment I had seen enough and nodded in agreement. "Then follow me."

He turned around and left with fast steps. He didn't even wait for me to get up! I sprinted after him. Yurick definitely wasn't a nice guy. He didn't care if I could keep up with him or not. He just kept walking. When we went through Lazulis' streets I almost lost him twice. Luckily he waited for me at the city's gate. But he looked rather impatient.

"Hurry up. We don't have all day," Yurick said and than went outside. I followed him panting. We didn't start training and I was exhausted already. That was just great.

Why did he even take me outside the city? I believed Lowell's bar was pretty big. Wasn't that enough room for my training?

Suddenly I had an odd thought. What if this wasn't Yurick? What if this man was a bloodthirsty murderer? Outside in the forest nobody would hear my cries for help. And no one knew I was there. Everybody thought I'd train with the true Yurick and my murderer had enough time to do anything he wanted to with me.

My throat was completely dry. I had to think of a good plan for my escape, so that he wouldn't notice I was running away until the last moment.

As I got half of my plan planned, "Yurick" stopped. I looked up and saw a big plain in front of us.

"Now, what is your name, girl?"

"Selene." I couldn't say anything else. I was too agitated.

"Selene? Good. Anyways, how much do you know about magic?"

"Uhm…" I hesitated. Actually I didn't know anything about it. It didn't know it existed after all. But I didn't want to make him angry.

"Nothing at all," he concluded by my silence. "So I suppose we have to start at zero. Do you at least what kind of magic you are able to control?"

"Uh, what kind…?"

"Never mind," he said slightly annoyed. "We'll seen soon enough."

Honestly spoken he didn't talk like a murderer or anything… Maybe he was truly Yurick and I only overacted?

Yurick snapped his fingers in front of my face. "No time for daydreaming," he reprimand me. "Your just a novice. You need all the concentration for your training."

I nodded.

"Good. First of all I need you to find the core of your power."

"What? Don't you want to teach me some spells and this stuff?"

"Spells? What kind of magic do you think this is? Real magic is completely different to the ones in fairy-tales. You better get rid of that idea fast." His voice was somehow angry. I think he was even scarier than a murderer. "Now concentrate." He slightly hit the back of my head.

I did as I was told to. I closed my eyes and searched for something that looked like magic. That was much easier said than done since I had no idea what I searched for exactly. After felt hours I eventually found something. It was some kind of a dark purple ball surrounded by black clouds and dangerous looking lightnings.

"I got it," I said without opening my eyes.

"That took you long enough." It was like a kick in the stomach. I thought I did it great! "Anyways, see the barrier surrounding it? You need to remove it first before you can use it."

That made sense. But I had no idea how I should have done that. _Go away, go away_, I tried to implore it. It didn't work. Innerly I pointed the lightnings to leave. It didn't work either. I reached out my hand for it and got an electric shock. I felt how I fell a few feet to the ground.

"I told you not to touch anything else before you removed the barrier!"

"But I had no idea how I should do that," I whined as I got up.

"Magic is all about concentration. You could have easily solved the problem if you'd listen to me earlier," he said. His voice was cold as ice.

But I did listen! I wanted to shout in his face but refrained from doing so. Instead I started focus on my training again. I searched for the core which was much simpler this time and I felt how my feet left the ground. I was floating! No, no other thoughts than my magic. I focused on the lightning barrier. It was part of that magic ball, _my_ magic. I was in charge of my magic, so I had complete control of it. I concentrated harder and I felt how the lightnings' circles got ever bigger and bigger. Just a little more and… Right at this moment they snapped back. Damn it! But I wouldn't give up that fast. I tried again and eventually the circles burst.

"I did it!" I shouted happily and lost full control of anything but it didn't matter. Gently I landed back on my feet and looked in Yurick's face to wait for his reaction. Unexpectedly he gave me a friendly smile, but he didn't say anything. He probably was waiting for me to continue the training. Now I really was keen on firing one of these magic balls so I did him the favour and returned to "work". "What do I do next?" I asked once I was back on the basics.

"Simply divide a small part of the sphere and use it's strength. Using it all at once not only wears you out but also is hard to control. In time you'll learn, however."

"And what happens to the missing part?" I certainly was worried that someday I wouldn't be able to use my magic anymore.

"Don't worry. It will regenerate. Pretty fast actually," he paused for a moment. "Now, do you see that big tree over there?"I opened up my eyes and immediately saw what he meant. I nodded. "Use the power of one part of your magic sphere to created a ball and hit the tree."

I did as Yurick told me and could feel how something rose above my head. I threw it with all might at the victim of my training. One moment later it hit. There was nothing very spectacular about it. Well, the ball wasn't to big at all. Only about the size of a fist.

"That's all you've got? How much did you use? A crumb?"

Ashamed I starred at the ground and bit my lips. It wasn't much more to tell the truth. But he said that it would be to hard to control if it was too big.

"Once again and now actually try."

Through this failure I felt more confident than before. I started to float again and this time I took about half of my magical power. When the ball above my head started to rise I got a bad feeling. It rose and rose and I started to lose control. I wanted to throw it at the tree as the one before but it wouldn't listen to me. Instead I almost hit Yurick by accident. Exhausted I fell to the ground.

"Are you alright?" Yurick's voice sincerely sounded concerned.

"Yeah.. I'm fine." The silver haired mage helped me up.

"I guess this was too much for you, wasn't it?" I nodded. "It's only a matter of time until you are able to do it." It was rather creepy to see him smile… Maybe he was a good guy at all? Behind me I heard steps. When I turned around to see who was coming I recognized the others.

"Ah, Zael. Can you do me a favour and diffuse that circle over there? Imagine I'm your enemy right now."

Without asking why Zael drew his sword. I, however, couldn't hold it back.

"It's one of Zael's special abilities. He can diffuse magic circles like this one…" Until Mirania pointed to that one, I didn't even notice I created it. "…which will only hit his enemies or in some cases his allies. And it is up to Zael to decide who's who," she explained.

"And what's the use of them?"

"It depends on what kind of circle he's diffusing. For example my heal circles will heal all allies nearby while Lowell's ice circles will make the others slip over."

"I see. What does my circle do then?"

"I don't know. I believe that is what Yurick wants to find out right now."

At the exact same moment we heard him say, "Interesting."

"What is it, patchy boy?" Syrenne wondered. Neither she nor anybody else could see anything.

"Apparently the cute, little girl over there has the ability to blind her foes for some time with Zael's help."

"That sounds nice," Syrenne exclaimed.

"Indeed a nice extension to our group," Lowell agreed.

"Yeah, maybe. But can you tell me now what element it is?"

"Of course. It's darkness."

"Thank you." Darkness. Had that something to do with my personality? Was I one of the bad guys? I could only wonder why.

"But before we call her member of the pack wouldn't it be appropriate to ask her first whether she wanted to be a part of it or not?" I heard Zael talking.

"Well?" Lowell gave me an asking look.

"I… I am truly grateful for the offer but I'm not quite sure. As much as I would like to… But some really weird things have been going on lately and first of all I want to clarify them."

"Selene, can I talk to you about that again for a moment? Only the two of us?"

The other five people seemed to understand and left. "He are going back to the city. Still got a few things to do, you know," Zael said while scratching the back of his head. Then he followed the others.

"So, how was your training?" Mirania started.

"Actually pretty good. And exhausting. But good. Oh, and Yurick's somehow weird…"

"I thought that much. I mean you've been gone the whole afternoon."

"Really? That long?" I looked up upon the sky and saw she wasn't joking. The sun already started to set behind the horizon. "Wow. Didn't feel that long."

"Still this was more than enough time for me to do some researches."

"Did you find something?" I started to shake in anticipation.

Mirania nodded. "Yes. I found a book in the castle's library that explained something about the so called Real Dreamer. I believe you are one, as well."

That sounded weird. As everything on this day. I probably should have gotten used to it already. "What's a Real Dreamer?"

"Real Dreamer are a special of kind of people. They have the ability to switch realities. In fact they are able through time and space. You left your home, your world and traveled here by accident, I suppose."

That didn't make any sense. How should that even be possible? But on the other hand I had just used magic to create a huge ball of darkness…

"But why is it called "Dreamer" if it's real?"

"Because they usually discover their abilities by accident when they are dreaming. Or at least they think they are dreaming."

For once in a lifetime something made sense. Finally! But I still was confused. Probably one of my greatest personalities.

"So, if you want to wake up in your world you first have to leave us," she continued.

"Leave you? No, I don't want to!" I didn't want to return somewhere where I was all alone, without any friends and with so many problems.

"I can understand how you feel but I believe it's the best for now." I starred at the ground. I really didn't want to go. "Hey, don't look so sad. You can always return here. We'll be waiting for you."

"Always?"

"Always."

How could anybody be so nice like her? Without thinking about it twice I hugged her a second time this day. "Alright."

After a few moments she gently pushed me away. Otherwise we probably would still be standing there. Then she turned away and fished something out of the pocket of her jacket. It was some kind of leather string with a small stone on it. When I looked closer I recognized it was a necklace.

"It's called a particle of the Outsider. A pretty rare stone that can be found here on Lazulis." She took my hand and put the necklace in it. "Take it. So that you'll remember us when you wake up. I'm afraid you'll only think of us in a far dream."

"How could I do that? You were all so nice, I could never forget about you." But still, better save than sorry, so I put on the necklace.

"Good girl," she smiled. "Now then, I believe it's time to go. Farewell, Selene. Until we meet again."

"Good bye," was all I was able to mutter. I hugged her for the last time and then everything faded to black.

* * *

Slowly I awoke. How long have I been asleep? Outside my window everything was dark already. Well, that meant definitely longer than I wanted to. I turned on the light and searched for my clock.

Five a.m?! Damn it! Only three hours more to go until I had to stand in front of my class. I panicked. What should I do? I had nothing to show. Absolutely nothing! I ran circles in my room and tried to think of something. Naturally I wouldn't work.

I fell on my bed. Why? Why did this always happen to me? And something felt strange suddenly. Like something pulled on my neck. When I looked what it was, I discovered a necklace. Where did that come from? I was sure I didn't own such a thing. Suddenly the image of a dark blue haired woman appeared and I could remember anything. Was it really real? Well, I still got the stone she gave to me. Wasn't that proof enough? And I could always return to them. I felt how I started to smile. _Always._ I suppose once I was back from school was the next time. Nothing else mattered anymore. Only to be with them again. I could live with them. _My friends._ I could be happy. How long was it since I was the last time truly happy? It felt like forever. And not even the presentation would spoil my mod. Somehow I'd find a good excuse for my teacher and if not, who cared? As long as I could be together with them I was happy. Was that the meaning of my life, perhaps? To be happy? I couldn't tell. And actually I couldn't think anymore, anyways. I was still tired. So I closed my eyes and fell asleep again to dream of them.


	2. Chapter 2

The day started terrible. Heavy raindrops splashed against my window and woke me up. When I looked outside to admire the rain I couldn't see anything until a bright flash of lightning tore the sky apart, followed by deafening thunder. It couldn't get much worse, could it? The depressing mood of rain paired with a heavy thunderstorm that always occurred when the protagonist of a story was in deep despair. Well, it kinda fit, I had to admit to myself smiling weakly. One moment later the smile already disappeared.

_Face my own demise…_

I had to recall the lyrics of a song while I searched for my clothes. Maybe I was lucky and my school already drowned in this apocalypse. But that was just a foolish hope. On the other hand you could never be really sure. So I opened the window and lent outside. The ground beneath my window seemed awfully softened but no signs of a soon end of the world. Too bad. I closed the window. Even after only these few moments I was already totally drenched. And it was cold! The best idea would have been a nice, hot bath. However, a short glance on the clock destroyed this idea. Half past six. Too less time to take a bath, but enough to take a shower. And I really needed one. So I picked up my clothes and went to the small bathroom. The warm water felt good on my cold skin not like the bowl of cold water in Lowell's bar. But honestly spoken I would have preferred everything there over the things awaiting me this day. Damn it, I really didn't want to go! Thousands of ideas swirled my mind how I could this presentation but none of them seemed truly safe. And if my plans didn't work out , I'd only have much more trouble. Sighing I got dressed. There was no way out. _Just face it like a mage! _I tried to encourage myself. _…And then straightly return to Mirania… _I admired the strange stone she gave me in the mirror. It didn't look that beautiful at all, but I felt a strange warmth coming from it. Probably just my imagination. Maybe it was meant to be my lucky charm? I could only wonder. And hope.

Before I went downstairs I considered drying my hair first. After a few moments I dismissed the thought. Once I stepped outside it would be wet again instantly. I walked downstairs to the kitchen. Actually I wanted to eat something but when I looked in the fridge I suddenly felt sick. I wasn't hungry, although I haven't eaten anything for more than twelve hours. Weird. But I couldn't do anything about it. So I just grabbed an apple and put it in my bag. Then I waited for the time to fly until it was time to go to catch the bus. Of course the bus had to be late, how else could it have been? And the umbrella I actually carried with me had to escape on the first opportunity. When I eventually reached the school I was drenched to the bone.

And from this point it only got worse. To put it in short I told my teacher I wasn't able to prepare the presentation because I didn't understand anything. He seemed very understandable – at first. When the lesson started we wrote a test about the same topic I had to talk about today. Naturally nobody could answer any question properly (save for one swot who worked out at least two chapters ahead of the class). It didn't make any difference to me whether I got a bad mark for mumbling stuff when I had absolutely no idea what I was talking about or getting a bad mark for writing nothing in a test, so I didn't care at all. My classmates, however, did care. They all would get bad marks. And who was guilty? Right, me. As a result they only disliked me more. In fact they hated me. Whenever they saw me they threw nasty comments at my head and now and then some of them had to trip me up. It felt like the day would never end. When the final bell of the day eventually rang nothing could keep me away from packing my stuff and storming out of the class immediately. As result I had to wait for the bus even longer than I already did. The rain loosened up a bit but the wind was as strong as in the morning. I started to shiver. Most likely I would get a cold. Just great. But at least my live wouldn't be that bad for the next two days for it was weekend.

The rest of my way home passed by without further incidents. As usual no one was at home. Except for my cute, little princess. My cat Lilly laid in front of the house and weary raised her head when she heard me coming.

"How was your day, dear?" I patted her head. As answer she started to purr. Before I could step in the house Lilly was already inside. She was fast. I took of my shoes and followed her upstairs to find her waiting in front of my door. I had to chuckle when she looked at me then at the door and back to me. Her request was obvious so I opened it before she started to bleat. Lilly jumped on the small armchair in front of the radiator and immediately fell asleep. The best thing you could do on a rainy Friday afternoon, I suppose. I put on some dry clothes and snuggled in my bed. In no time I was asleep as well.

* * *

The trees around me rustled in the slight breeze that ruffled my hair. Apparently I was in a forest. Actually that wasn't anything you had to be afraid of if it wasn't for the darkness surrounding me. That really was frightening.

There! Something rustled behind a bush and I started to run from the creature of the night at once. I didn't know where I ran and I didn't care at the moment. All that mattered was not to end up as food! Why did this always happeb to me? Everywhere was someone or something that tried to make my life as horrible as possible.

Suddenly I heard fast steps behind me. But these weren't a human's steps. The thing had four legs and it was big. Very big. Driven by horrifying fear I fastened my speed until I felt like I was floating. For a few moments I couldn't feel anything. Neither my hurting legs nor my burning lungs. And then it happened. I stumbled over something (I think it was a root of a tree) and fell to the ground. That saw my end. Only a few moments and thee beast would catch me. It would tear me apart and eat me! There was still some time left to get up and run away but I was unable to move. My body just wouldn't listen! I closed my eyes. I didn't know you for a long time, Mirania, but still I can say that you're the best thing that could happen to me. Thank you. Thanks to all of you. I could hear how the beast positioned itself for the decisive leap. It growled dangerously, jumped and…

"No!" I heard myself shouting while I lifted my arms to protect my face although that was pretty much of an useless action. And then nothing happened. Cautious I opened an eye. The monster stood a few feet away from me. It quietly whimpered and shook its head like he wanted to shake of something that was attached to it. Apparently it didn't care about me I got up and scrutinized it shortly. The creature look very similar to a wolf. But it was bigger. Way bigger. In fact he had almost the same height as me. His fur shimmered silver in the few rays of moonlight that fell through the thick roof of leaves. On the wolf's back there was a small dark grey stripe right along his spine. Frankly he didn't seem that dangerous at all save for his size. I believe he could still feel my presence and looked up. Although I have to say that he still didn't seem to see me. It was like a dark veil laid upon his ice-blue eyes. The wolf growled again and I was able to take a look at his sharp, white fangs that were a little bigger than usual. In a way I was fascinated by the creature and forgot about my fear for a few moments. In the distance I could hear another wolf howling that tore me back into reality. This beast wanted to kill me, so I better ran away as long as I could. Considering his unnatural long legs he'd catch up on me in no time. But at least I had the chance to escape now. Immediately I turned around and ran. It didn't take long until the wolf took up the pursuit. I believe he somehow got blinded, not sure if only for some time or for ever. Nevertheless he followed me. Almost like he could see without his eyes. But luckily only almost. Now and then he stumbled over fallen stems and similar things that brought me a nice, little advantage. If it kept going this way I eventually might have lost him. However, as always it got different. I reached a wide plain, I believe it was the one where Yurick and I trained the other day. Now there wasn't anything that could have kept the monster from catching me. In my anxiety I didn't even notice how the wolf fell back at the edge of the forest. I just kept on running until I reached the massive, wooden gate of Lazulis City.

"Let me in!" I hammered against the door.

A small hatch was opened. "Get away!" an unfriendly voice said. "You'll only let the beasts in." And then he closed it.

"No! You don't understand!" I felt how tears started to run down my cheeks. "Please…" With unbelievable luck I escaped a man-eating monster and now as shelter was so near it still would get me? That wasn't fair. I lent my head against the wooden door. There was somebody else on the other side of the gate! I could clearly hear heavy footsteps and the rattle of metal. An armour, perhaps?

"What do you think you're there?" I heard a deep voice growling almost as dangerous as the wolf earlier.

"S-Sir!" The unfriendly man suddenly seemed really scared. I couldn't help but to smile. He deserved it!

"Don't make me repeat myself."

The other man cleared his throat. "Outside the city's walls there are many creatures who are only waiting for an opportunity to invade the city. And it is my duty as a knight to protect the citizens from this danger."

"It is your duty to protect _anyone_. And even if there are hundreds of reptids waiting to invade Lazulis you whether fight them off or die trying. Am I understood?" He paused shortly. "Good. Now, what are you waiting for? Open the door!"

The knight didn't say anything else. I wondered who the other person was who silenced a knight. Could only mean he was a man of status. But a nice guy of status. I heard how a heavy bolt of wood was lifted and the door was opened. I was safe! And still alive! I rushed in and fell around my saviour's neck. It was uncomfortable as hell, so I relinquished my hold on him fast. Reason for this comfortability was without a doubt the heavy silver armor he was wearing. And also the fact that I got the impression that he didn't like to be embraced by a weird, strange girl. Although I couldn't hold that against him. I would have been shocked too, especially if I was hugging me. I mean not me, another person who was the same as me – shy and uncomfortable around strangers. Well, basically me, but not the same! I mean… God, that's confusing… Uhm, yeah, you could tell I was shocked by the way I behaved. And somehow I felt slightly proud of myself. Nevertheless bothering someone wasn't very nice.

"I-I am sorry." Embarassed I stepped on one foot. "I was just so happy and…" I had absolutely no idea what else I could say and looked up for a moment, hoping he'd say something. This man certainly was a handsome guy. Unfortunately he didn't look very kind at all. He didn't seem to be angry or anything but somehow I missed a friendly smile like the others showed me. However you couldn't compare them. He wasn't one of the "pack" as Zael called them the other day. Anyways, it would have been too good to be true if a guy was good-looking AND nice at the same time. Too bad…

I scrutinized his face more careful. Somewhere I read that the eyes were the mirror of one's soul. And instantly I had to take back my earlier statement. If that was true, he might have been one of the kindest persons on earth. Sounds strange, yes, but it really felt that way. The emerald-like orbs gave off only warmth and security. Concerning they observed me. Suddenly I had no doubts about it anymore that I could trust my life in his hands and I wouldn't regret it. Strands of white hair covered one of his eyes partially. I couldn't take my eyes of his hair! Not only was its colour unusual but also its length. By far longer than mine and I always thought mine was long… On top of it it was braided as well. Meaning his hair was even longer. That made me kind of jealous. But who knows if that length did look good on me? Somehow I doubted it. But on the other hand I could never imagine that a man with braided hair would look good. And now I got the living proof. Everything about seemed so perfect. And I dared to touch him without permission! I felt how I started to blush. Damn it, this just couldn't get anymore awkward.

"I believe beyond the city's gate isn't the right place for a young lady to be in the middle of the night."

"It's not like I wanted to be there. It's just… Uhm…" If I told him how I got there he'd think I'm insane. "Uh… Well, it's a little hard to explain. Is that enough as answer?"

"Of course. It's not my intention to pry in your business. Nevertheless allow me to ask what happened. You seem to be really troubled."

"Well, I was out there in the forest and suddenly I heard something so I ran away and then there was that big wolf. I mean not big, it was huge! And he wanted to eat me! And he almost got me but luckily I could escape and now I'm here and have to find my friends," I said in one breath and had to gasp. Honestly I wouldn't have blamed him if he'd claim me insane now. I mean, who had ever heard of such a big creature?

"I see," was his only reply. I wish I knew what he was thinking but his face was a mask of stone, no reaction at all. "Then allow me to accompany you."

"Huh? Why's that?"

"Lazulis or not, the city is still dangerous. In every corner there are thieves, bandits or worse lurking for easy prey."

"Uhm, thanks. But I think I can handle myself just fine." As if! However, I didn't like the thought of being followed so I just had to pretend I was capable of. Like something was gonna happen! "Thank you, for your generous offer, but I better be going then." Without waiting for an answer I started to move. If I only had any idea where to go… The streets looked all the same to me. After walking around for about half an hour I passed the fancy fountain the third time. So I've been running around in circles the whole time. Great. Maybe I should have just sat down and wait for Mirania to find me. Or someone else who could have helped me. But it was in the midst of night so nobody was around. That meant I had to find myself the right way. It was only a matter of days until I did it. And the sooner I got started, the sooner I was there. Now, which way to go? I decided for the small, dark alleyway. The creepiest, I know, but somehow every other way led me nowhere or rather the same place over and over again. So the best thing was to change my tactics. I admit it wasn't best idea I've ever had. I couldn't get rid of the feeling that somebody was watching me and as it always had to be my suspicion was proven to be correct. As soon as I walked around the second corner somebody grabbed me from behind and held my mouth shut with one hand. How couldn't I have noticed him earlier!? Now it was too late and I felt heavy breaths in my neck.

"Now what do we got here? What are you doing out here all alone? Didn't your daddy tell you it's dangerous? Aw, don't worry, we'll send you home. Or at least your head. That is, after we received a nice, little reward for finding you." He laughed ghastly.

A normal person would have screamed in such a situation, I suppose. But not me. And that wasn't only because of the strong hand covering my mouth. I was too paralyzed to move. Now the only thing left to do was praying.

"No resistance? Good girl. Now go! We don't have all night long." He pushed me forward while he still grabbed my arms on my back tightly, causing severe pain in my shoulder. I had to suppress an anguished cry. At least I could move again. Only it was too late now.

"Let her go," I heard a familiar voice growling behind us. I believe my kidnapper knew him as well. He stopped immediately and stood there stiff. You could almost hear how the cogs in his brain started to work strenuous.

"Take your filthy hands off her. Now! Or do I need to cut them off myself?"

I couldn't tell if he let go because of the thread or because he was too frightened anyway, but he pushed me away so I fell to the ground, while he started to run as fast as he could which wasn't that fast at all. My knight in silver armor probably could caught him if he wanted to –heck, even I could have done that- but instead he walked over to me and reached out one hand to help me up. Gratefully I took it. He didn't say a thing and neither did I. He saved me twice this day (or rather night). There were no words I could express how thankful I was. But how did he know I was in trouble, anyway? There was only one logical explanation.

"Did you follow me?" I said slowly.

"I couldn't let you walk right into the arms of those rotten bastards. So, yes, I did. My apologize, milady." He bowed his head slightly. Wait. Did he just call me a lady? I was much but definitely not a lady.

"Th-Thank you." God, why was this all so embarrassing? It was even worse around this guy than it already was everywhere else.

"I hope I am now allowed to accompany you."

"Y-Yes, o-o-of course." Damn it, stop stammering! The best thing was to shut up and only nod or shake my head when asked a direct question. But I was so curious! After walking through the streets for some time I felt confident enough that I could speak normally again. "That bandit earlier… Why did he escape all out of the sudden when you arrived?"

"Although these bandits don't seem like it they have enough brains not to pick on a fight with one of the Lazulis Knights. That's why."

"Really? Are all knights that strong?"

"Well, not all. In fact just a small group of them but they don't want to try to find out who is and who's not."

That made sense. So a knight at my side would keep them away. That was good enough for me. Now I only had to find my way home. Again. I looked around to see if there was anything familiar around. There was. Right in front of us the mighty arena stretched to the sky. I ran around the round building to find the place where Zael waited for us not long ago. We rounded it nearly completely before I found what I was searching for. From that point on it shouldn't have been too hard to make the rest of the way to Syrenne's and Lowell's bar. Unexpectedly I did it on the first try. There was the familiar house with its dirty front and the small wooden sign that probably said something with "bar". I couldn't read it for it was too dark. But never mind. I found it! Now nothing else could go wrong. I groped for the door-handle, pushed it down and… It was locked. Damn it! Why didn't something work for once? I hammered against the door. No reaction. Great. What should I do now? Sleep on the streets? I doubted that the knight was that patient.

"You're a friend of them?" Sir White-Hair asked raising an eyebrow when I returned to him.

"Yes. Do you know them?"

He just skipped my question. "So you know Zael as well?"

"Yeah, I think you could say that we're friends, too." What was that of his concern? And why did he ask about Zael? Why not Mirania?

After a few moments I wanted to ask him but he was faster and said, "If that's the case then follow me."

He started to walk away and didn't wait for me. And before I got lost again I better followed him. I wondered where he'd lead me to. And for some reason I couldn't ask. Although I really wanted to know. On the other hand I had no idea how to start. Before I decided what to do we already reached a big gate. Another knight stood on its right side and saluted my companion shortly, I took it as a sign that he was a high-ranked knight as I already thought earlier. It was typical me to make a fool of myself in front of somebody important. Alright – no more disgracing for today! Couldn't be that hard, could it? I only had to watch what I said and did. Nothing to worry about. As long as I just followed him and didn't say anything else everything was fine.

To satisfy my curiosity what kind of place this was I looked up. A pretty short compared to its width path of cobblestone let to another wooden gate that was a little smaller than the previous one. Huge blocks of grey stone surrounded it and reached for the sky to form an impressive building. Lazulis Castle. It was like one of these castles out of fairy tales only it was real. And I was to step foot into it! This really felt like a fairytale. For one moment everything felt so damn perfect.

I admired the castle's surroundings, which wasn't much as far as I could tell. From the main path I was walking on led two smaller ones of gravel around the building. The rest of the area was grown with grass save for a few trees and hedges on its edge. Everything was surrounded by a huge wall made out of the same stone as the castle. Most impressive. The moonlight only slightly lit the area so I could only guess how great everything had to be. Nevertheless I already was astonished. That astonished that I didn't see the few small stairs and stumbled over the first one. In the moment of surprise my hands grabbed the first thing in reach, which unfortunately turned out to be the knight's shoulder. I didn't fell to the ground but frankly I would have preferred that over holding on to a strange man. By now my face should already have turned as red as a tomato.

"Sorry," was all I was able to mutter when I let go of him. Well, maybe we could forget about everything. If I never saw him again. If that was even possible. We should see.

The knight didn't wait for too long until he continued walking. As much as I would have liked to take a look at the castle's inside I didn't dare to look up again for I was too afraid of embarrassing myself again. The boots Mirania gave to me the other day looked actually pretty nice. They were simple and seemed rather worn out but they weren't too bad at all. Maybe I could change a few things here and there and no one would see they were that old. That should do the trick. At least until I could afford a new pair, at least. Up until now I didn't earn any money here and I doubted that anybody would hire me. I didn't even have an idea what I should do. I was rather untalented. In everything. Oh well, somehow we'd find something for me. And until then I better made these shoes good-looking. The rest of the way I thought about what I could do with my boots until I nearly collided with a door. In the last moment I noticed and stopped immediately. Were we finally there? Great. He opened the door and let me step on. I couldn't see anything. It was completely dark. Outside it was still night and therefore it was dark and the curtains were shut to keep even the last light outside. The knight, who still hadn't introduced himself, was cavalier enough to lit the small oil lamp that stood on the table next to the bed. Besides these few pieces of furniture there was only a small table, a couch and a wardrobe for my not existing clothes. I could have imagined better from the castle's outer appearance but it was alright, I guess.

"I assume you want to rest for now. Good night, milady." With that he already closed the door. I really wanted to know why he brought me here but he didn't seem like he wanted to talk about it. Well, I'd find out soon enough. Now that I finally could relax I noticed how exhausted I actually was. So my plan proofed to be rather simple. At first sleep a little and the next day I'd try to find a familiar face and the reason why I was here. I stripped of my shoes and walked over to the curtain-hid window. I opened it to let in some fresh air. Outside there were no noises except for the rushing of waves. I could have listened to it all night – and I would. As quiet as possible I snuck up to the bed and slipped under the light blanket. The bed was softer than it looked on the first glance. By all means I'd sleep well.

* * *

The next morning I woke up through a knock on the door. Shortly afterwards somebody stepped inside.

"Lady Selene, the count wished to speak to you," a female voice said.

"Hm?" I asked with half open eyes while I sat up.

"Count Arganan wants to see you now," she repeated slightly annoyed.

What Arganan guy? And why did he want to see me? How did he know me anyway? I had absolutely no idea. It didn't matter, anyway. This maid, as I presumed her to be considering her black-white clothes, waited impatiently for me to get up. Trying to escape was probably impossible. And I didn't want to find. My eye boogers slowly volatilized itself as I searched for my boots. While I put them on I had to yawn. The maid looked strangely from the side at me therefore. Somehow I got the feeling she didn't like me. And I didn't care. She only had to show me the way to this guy and I'd never see her again. While we walked I tried to brush my hair as best as possible, which wad damn hard without an actual brush. I didn't need a mirror to tell that it still looked horrible. Too bad I couldn't do anything about it and with that this topic was done for me. And the gossip could start as I was already used to. But I was too tired to care. In fact I spend the whole way half-asleep. Therefore I didn't notice the massive wooden door in front of me. My head discovered it first when it hit the dark wood. The maid smiled ghastly.

"Come on in," I heard a voice from the other side of the door. It sounded kind of familiar. I stepped inside as I was told to and recognized a known face. "Wouldn't have thought you to have such a forceful knock," Zael said slightly surprised.

"Yeah, me too," I said rubbing my forehead. Once he realized it was my head "knocking" on the door he started to laugh. "Hey, that isn't funny!"

"S-Sorry," he said while slowly calming down.

"Anyways, why are you here? That weird woman said I was going to meet some Arganan guy here? A count if I remember correctly? Did you make him angry in some way?" I scanned the room for any signs of him and was happy no one was there yet. Besides Zael there was only one more person in the room. A woman about Zael's age sat behind a huge wooden desk and scruntinized me curious. Her long white hair fell softly over the silky shoulders of hers and the upper part of a dark blue dress. "And what's more: Where is he?"

"He's standing right in front of you." A slight chuckle escaped his throat.

"I can't see , what?" The woman started to smile too. What was going on?

"You seem to be much surprised," she said with a warm voice while she walked over to Zael.

"Well, of course I am. I mean he's Zael, not some Arganan."

"Zael of the house of Arganan." She looked up to him like a newly enamored girl. I guess that explained about their relationship. But I still had no idea what she actually was talking about. One voice in my mind said I should just leave it so I wouldn't embarrass myself any further, while another -the confused one- said I should ask. The second one won.

"Huh?"

"To put it simple - I am the ruler of Lazulis," Zael tried to clarify.

"Ahh..."

I was still confused. So Zael was the count? A noble? But Zael was so nice, not like all the nobles I always heard of. And with his simple black clothes that seemed rather heavy and the bronze armour plates he didn't look like one of noble blood as well. Were they just making fun of me? No. We were talking about Zael. He was such a nice and honest person - he just wouldn't do something like that. Would he?

A knock on the door interrupted my thoughts. One moment later Mirania entered the room. "Mirania!" I shouted and fell around her neck. Seriously, what was going on here? Usually I didn't behave like that. Never ever.

"It's good to see you again, Selene." She looked weirdly at me. "Did something happen?"

"Huh?" I looked down on myself and eventually noticed the many scratches on my skin and all the dirt on the dress. "Oh, that. It's nothing. Really. I'm just glad to see you!" At once I forgot about the two people standing right behind me. "But what are you doing here?"

"Well, Zael told me we've got a visitor that looked very much like you, so I decided to pay you a visit."

"You can't imagine how happy that makes me. It's been ages since the last person visited me on his own free will."

She smiled as response. "Anyways, there is one more reason why I came here."

"What is it?"

"I want to abduct you."

That totally caught me off guard. "Huh? Why's that? And where to?"

"You'll see when we're there. So are you coming?"

Curiosity painted my face. I had absolutely no idea where we might be going. I was tempted to fell on my knees and beg her to tell me but I fastly dropped the idea. "Alright, let's go," I nodded.

"I hope you don't mind if I take her with me," she turned to somebody else. When I turned around I saw Zael standing there along with the white haired woman.

_Count_ Zael shook his head and said, "Just go on ahead."

Mirania smiling grabbed my Hand and dragged me outside, through the castle and outside the city. I still had not one clue where she was taking me.

* * *

Heavy raindrops fell from the sky when we entered the cave. Phew, just in time. I glanced upon the grey sky. It didn't look like it was going to end soon. So we most probably get wet after all when we returned to the city. Oh well, it could have been worse. Like the other morning at home... I shook my head. No matter how horrible that, or home in general was, now I was here with Mirania and I better enjoyed it.

"So... Can you tell me now why we're here?" I turned to face her.

"The other day you said you were in a cave and couldn't remember what happened, didn't you? And I told you I was going to help you regaining your memory. I thought it was the best to start with the place where everything began. So here we are."

Indeed, this place looked familiar. But I guess all caves look very much similar to one another.

"Do you remember something?"

I shook my head. "I'm sorry, not a thing."

"It's alright. I believe it will come in time." She smiled at me encouraging. "Shall we take a walk?"

"Yes, please. Otherwise I'm afraid I might freeze on right here," I chuckled. It truly was cold. After all I only wore a short dress and outside there was no sun warming the earth. And the keen wind only made things worse. I was hoping a little action could warm me up, although I actually doubted it.

Water dripped from the ceiling as we approached through the labyrinth of stone corridors. Or at least it felt like one. Every way looked exactly like the previous one. At every parting of the way Mirania let me choose which one to take. I believe she thought I knew the way I took the last time I've been here. Unfortunately I didn't. We could've gone in circles for hours and I wouldn't know. So we just kept on walking until we reached a larger room, if you could call it that. The cave's stone walls build a big oval place. The ceiling was partially carried by huge stone pillars, but in the middle of everything there was no ceiling at all, so the rain could enter without hindrance. But right now I didn't care. This place looked really familiar. The layout, the crushed bridge in the center of it, just everything. For one moment I could see many weird creatures dancing in front of my mental eye. They were everywhere, lurking in The darkest corners available, crawling over the bridge's remains, dancing around a high fire they built up. And in the midst of all of them I saw myself. They haven't me noticed yet, how I Sat in a small hollow that the ruins built. The best idea probably was to sit there still until these creatures vanished. But what did I do instead? I stood up and crawled out of my save hideout to escape. Up until that moment everything went just fine. Nobody noticed how I tried to steal myself away. I might have even gotten away, but as always everything got wrong. The only possible escape route led over the fallen bridge. I only had to get over there without making any noise. Actually not that hard for me so I started climbing. Only four more steps and I made it. That was when I stepped on a relatively small, loose stone that naturally had to detach itself. Actually that wasn't really dangerous to me. You could barely hear the stone rolling. But it rolled. Right on one of the creature's feet. Said being immediately started to look around to see where the stone came from. It didn't take long until it found me. A bloodcurdling scream echoed through the cave. Every other sound was ceased and all eyes were set on me. Of course I didn't think twice about it and so I could see myself running away at a speed I might have beaten only once. The horde of reptids followed. And so did I.

"What's wrong?" Mirania wondered as I started to run. I couldn't answer her right now. Gladly she understood and followed me silently. There was another parting of the way. In every direction there were many footprints. So the reptids Split up trying to follow me. I sighed in relieve. My instinct told me to take the right path. It was the one with the least footprints luckily. How could I have forgotten any of this? It was a riddle to me.

The further we ran the wider the way got until it eventually ended in a small room. A dead end. And I was trapped in it. That didn't look too good. When I looked around I saw myself trying to fight the creatures. And I my weapon was... a stick? Watching my enemies more carefully I saw that they weren't much better equipped. A few of them were even fighting with their bare hands. Or rather claws.

One of them tried to kill me with a rusty sword. I parried the blow to see from the angle of my eye that one of these claw-fighters tried to cut me up. From the looks on my face I could guess that it hurt like hell. Was there really no way out of this? When I scanned the room further I saw something. A small ledge and right above it there was another way! But there was a fly in the ointment - its height. With its about eight feet it was pretty high. Although it was still reachable. You only had to climb up one of these walls that were made perfectly for climbing. However, you needed time to get up there. And I didn't have any time! When I'd turn my back on the reptids I was instantly dead! When I looked down to me again I saw myself crouching under the ledge. More reptids came in from the way Mirania and I stood. Now all hope was lost.

But somehow I was still alive.

Right at this moment somebody, or rather something, jumped in the scene of fighting. A huge creature with shimmering silver fur. Now that looked awfully known. Pale blue eyes watched every little movement of my enemy. Nothing went by unnoticed by the vigilant wolf. One of the reptids attacked him and as a result for his carelessness he had one arm less. Before the creature could let out a scream the wolf jumped on its body and tore his throat apart. The following attackers seemed to be a little smarter and attacked together. Four at a time. My protector avoided there blows with ease and killed them in no time. Mesmerized I watched his graceful movements as he continued sealing their lives. In the end there was only a handful of reptids left. Screaming in horror they escaped. The wolf didn't pursuit them. My past-self starred at him with big eyes as he walked towards me. A few feet away from me he stopped and sat down. Peacefully he watched me. There was something about him, despite the bloodbath he caused moments ago. But why did he do it in the end. To save my life, that was for certain, but why? I forgot about my fear and stood up. I wanted to know if this creature was real or if my mind just played tricks on me. Cautiously I stretched out my hand to Touch his head. He didn't mind. Gently I ruffled his silver-like fur when suddenly a strange light surrounded my hand. It slowly creeped up to my shoulder and from there to every other place of my body. Once the light vanished all my wounds were gone too. Weird things were going on here. And I couldn't stop wondering about it. When I looked up again the wolf was gone. It kind of made me sad. Somehow I really liked him. But at least I was safe now. That's all that mattered. I saw myself climbing up the wall to find a way out. I started running with no idea where to. Eventually my steps slowed down and I could hear myself asking in my mind "W-where am I?"

"I think, I've got everything together now..." I said more to myself.

"Really? Then would you mind telling me?"

I told Mirania everything about what I saw earlier, leaving out not a single detail. "And that wolf. I saw him again. Last night he pursued me. I though he was going to kill me. But now I'm not really sure about it anymore..." I looked around. The only thing that reminded of a battle were the many stains of blood and the footprints of reptids. Weirdly there were no signs of wolf paws amongst them.

"I heard of many extraordinary creatures but never of an oversized wolf..." Mirania said.

"I swear I wasn't lying! I really saw him."

"I never said you were. It's just strange... This certainly wasn't a normal wolf."

"Do you have any idea what he was?"

"Well, maybe. It seems to be that he took care of you in some dire situations. Like he was truly concerned about your safety."

"Like he was some kind of guardian?"

She nodded.

"That would explain a few things, but why did he want to eat me?" I wondered.

"I don't think he truly wanted to harm you last night. Considering his stature as you described him, he seems to be a very fast and adept creature. If he really would have wanted to kill you, he would have caught you."

That made sense to me. But it didn't explain why he chased me in The first place. I wondered if I ever would find out. And even more I wondered about another thing. "Why would I have a guardian? Aren't they meant to protect important people? Then why me?" I sat down on a rock and tried to find an explanation.

"Don't say something like this. You are an important person!" Her voice had a slightly angry tone, yet was as warmly as ever.

"As if..."

"I know you are. Although I have to admit I don't know for what purpose at the moment. But I'm certain we'll find out, too." She reached out one hand for me to pull me up. Gratefully I took it. I looked up to her face. Her eyes seemed truly concerned but her friendly smile didn't vanish. I smiled in return. At that moment my vision blurred and something pulled me out of the bloody cave.

_No, I don't want to go._


End file.
